FORBIDDEN FRUIT

Compared with many of today’s compact SUVs, the 2020 Suzuki Jimny is slow, crude, and cramped. It drives a lot like a mid-’80s rear-drive Japanese car. But it’s also so honest and unpretentious, so full of character and charm, and so surprisingly capable at doing what it was designed to do that it makes you smile every time you slide behind the wheel—something that’s unlikely to ever happen getting into a Toyota RAV4 or Chevy Equinox.

In today’s fast-paced, ultra-connected, digitally enhanced automotive world, the Jimny is one of life’s simple pleasures.

It’s a simple pleasure with a complicated back story, though. Our Jimny tester was one of the last in the Suzuki U.K. press fleet, as the vehicle